Over Time
by blackrockchocolate
Summary: "I guess you can say this is how it all began." Short chapters of how Naruto's affection for Sasuke developed over the school years. Current time.
1. Kindergarten

**Hey everyone! I'm just jumping in here with a little story that only took me three days to write, to be honest. It's short and sweet, and each chapter is only about a page long (from a word document). It's about how Naruto's affection for Sasuke developed over the school years.**

**I wrote this to take a break from _Outlawed_, and to clear my head a little. I couldn't write for weeks. I just wasn't able to. This really helped, and I suppose I could just upload it. Let me know what you think. Thanks, everyone, and I hope you continued to read _Outlawed_, if you do, and if you don't, I hope you take a look at it!**

**As always, opinions are highly appreciated as long as you're educated in some way, shape, or form.**

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><p>I guess you can say that it all started back in Kindergarten. Damn, it was a long time ago for sure, but I just can't shake the memories, not matter how small they may be.<p>

Back then, everything was about who finger-painted the best, who had the best lunch, and who had the most friends.

Of course, the best painter in our class was, and always has been, that kid Sai, who I never really cared much about. No one ever surpassed his level, which was pretty developed even at the tender age of five. His parents must have put him through some kind of class, I thought.

Sakura always had the best lunches, but she never shared with me. No matter how many times I asked, pleaded, or even attempted to take a cookie or two while she wasn't looking, she never let me touch the delicious meals she brought to school everyday.

Kiba was able to make the most friends right from the get-go. He really is a great guy, and even in Kindergarten he had that certain charisma that he still has now. He managed to make friends with almost the whole class without making any enemies. Not even Neji, the dear little Hinata's cousin, who was so protective over her even in the young days. Kiba made friends with both of them, no problems.

So where did that leave me? I was the class-clown, not always the brightest crayon in the box. I liked to fling paint or paint faces better than I did put it on paper. Food fights were fun if you only threw the food that you didn't like (my mom would always urge me to eat my fresh veggies she packed in my lunch—which I would proceed to toss at Kiba, who just couldn't say no to a challenge). I was always breaking rules and I just couldn't grasp the idea of "stay in your seat," or "nap time is quiet time."

Really, where _did_ that leave me? I'll tell you where. The corner.

I was always being stuck in the corner during recess, and even made to sit there during class. It was supposed to be embarrassing, and believe me, it _was_. I loved to be the center of attention, and I loved making people laugh, but I hated to be laughed at. It was a terror to me as a kid. So sometimes I would attempt to tone it down so I wouldn't be forced into that corner, but it's where I always ended up.

I specifically remember a certain day—a Friday, I believe, because recess was longer—that I was stuck in that corner while everyone was free to prance around outside and have fun. I couldn't even face the window and watch them bask in their own happiness while I sulked. I had to face the corner and only that. The classroom was completely empty, leaving me the only one in there. It was eerily silent, and I was growing anxious and fidgety. I'd forgotten my lunch at home that day, so I had nothing to eat at lunchtime. No one shared any of their food with me, not even that bratty Kiba—which surprised me; we always shared. I was about ready to get up and eat the macaroni sculptures. That's how damn hungry I was. My stomach was rumbling at me furiously. I needed energy, and I needed it fast.

That's when I felt someone tap my shoulder from behind me. I spun around on the floor quickly. Standing there with a hand outstretched was a boy in my class who I never saw much of. I didn't know his name at the time and I didn't really care to learn it. But in his hand was a small plastic bag with a sandwich in it. My eyes grew wide as I snatched the food from him and started to munch into it.

I grinned widely up at him, and with food in my mouth, said, "Thanks!" and continued to devour the food that I so badly needed. When I looked back up with the intentions of asking him if he wanted to be friends, he wasn't even there anymore. I hadn't even learned his name. I got up to throw away the bag so the teacher wouldn't get mad at me, and when I tossed it, I caught a name written in marker on the front. I fished it out of the trash can, never minding the fact that I was practically a trash-picker now, and read, _Sasuke_.


	2. Second Grade

**This chapter was (very, very loosely) inspired from when I was in second grade. There was always this boy who was bugging to be my friend, and I tried as politely as I could to turn him down... But when he started to sing "It's getting hot in here" to me on the courts, I knocked his ass over and beat the crap out of him. [shrugs] That's what you get.**

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><p>I guess you can say that it kind of progressed when I went into second grade.<p>

Sasuke had ignored me for the rest of the damn kindergarten year, avoiding me at all times possible, and other times seeming impossible or even rigged so that I'd never get a chance to talk to him. Eventually, the teacher thought I was intentionally trying to bother him, so she separated us and made sure that there were never any times that I would try to be near him—which meant the corner for most of the year.

We'd been put in different classes for first grade, and I never saw him at recess, lunch, or anywhere else. I did, however, spot him at the grocery market once on a trip with my mom, but when I waved at him and called his name, I don't think he heard me. Maybe it was because I pronounced it, "Sash-kay!" in my child's tongue, or maybe because I just wasn't loud enough. The latter seemed impossible, though. If anything, I was too loud, and my mother scolded me a little for it, telling me how that wasn't a voice I used in the supermarket.

In second grade, though, we were in the same class. I was a bit surprised that I'd made it into the honors class, and truth be told, my parents were a bit surprised, too. They were still proud of me though, and I was proud of myself. The moment I saw Sasuke, I recognized him, and I was sure that he recognized me, too—the way he turned around quickly proved that. Still, I strode over to him and said, "Hey, Sasuke!"

Of course, he ignored me, even told me to leave him alone, but I never let that stop me or get me down. Numerous times I tried to get him to warm up to me, many times I tried to get him to talk to me. I wouldn't stand for having someone dislike me, and I would do almost anything to get him to be my friend. He wouldn't have it, though.

One day toward the end of the year, our class was split into two teams to start a basketball tournament with the other classes. We didn't get to choose the teams because the teacher didn't want it to be unfair and she wanted it to be even. Naturally, I got put on the team against Sasuke's. Shikamaru was their elected team captain, and Neji was our elected team captain. Even though we were only in the second grade, everyone knew that the tournament was going to be intense.

About halfway into the game, I had a little control over the ball, and I was taking it across the court. The people that were on court for the other team practically bombarded me, but I slithered past them with ease. But just as I was about to make a shot, one of the other players was shoved into me, forcing us both to the ground. The court was _outside,_ making it on the blacktop, and therefore hotter than hell in the Summer heat. My ass was planted firmly on the ground and burning hotter than the sun itself. I attempted to jump up off of it, but struggled when I realized that the other player was still on top of me. I looked up to see just who it was so I could decide on how to go about this. If it were Hinata, I would have to ask her nicely to get off. If it were Kiba, I would have to yell at him. If it were Sakura, I would have to take the heat because it was worth being near her.

But it was Sasuke. I was shocked speechless, left staring up at him. He pushed himself up and looked down at who he was pushed into, but it took him a moment or two to realize that it was me. He shook his head and looked away, then back.

And the two of us screamed at each other, pushing back frantically. I rolled, toppling him over, but he just landed right back on top of me, and when I rolled, I was on top of him. I had no idea what to do, so he shoved me off, got up, and ran.

"Watch what you're doing, Uzumaki," he spat.

"I was, until you were all over me," I said back to him, and in a moment of pure spite and embarrassment, added, "asshole."

It was the first time I'd cursed, and my dad wasn't happy about going to the school to talk to my principal about where I'd picked up that vocabulary.


	3. Fifth Grade

**Again... _laughs._ This is very loosely based on some experiences I had in grade school. I was sitting by some of my friends during fifth grade graduation, and we were cracking jokes during the "ceremony" or whatever it was called. We got scolded, and one boy blamed me... So I gave him the stank eye. I snuck out to the hallway, called him over, and beat the crap out of him. _Thinks_. Wow, I was a violent kid.**

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><p>I guess you can say that fifth grade kind of propelled everything.<p>

Now, I was never really that much of a violent kid. To be honest, I'd rather not settle things with my fists, but that's just the way that things tend to sway sometimes. One minute I'm telling a guy off, the next I'm on top of some pile of something that looks like ground beef and I come to realize it's their face. Whoops. Like I said. Things tend to sway that way.

Usually it's something the guy says that particularly pisses me off till the point where I can't let it go off without a word of my own. I argue as much as I can until I can't hold it in anymore and I beat his ass to a pulp. I don't want to be that kind of guy, but I'd gained notoriety for it throughout the years and even some envy and admiration from other guys. It was kind of awkward, but hell, whatever floats their boats.

No one ever believed me when I said that I didn't want to fight. Sometimes the guy would be so arrogant that he'd throw the first hit just to prove me wrong—and they always did. It got so that I would stop telling them that I didn't want to fight, that nothing was solved by fights, blah, blah… And just cut straight to the chase with a left hook to the jaw. After all of the numerous amount of fights that I'd been in, no one had caught that my first move was always either a left hook or some kind of kick. It wasn't too consistent but it was highly noticeable, so why didn't anyone notice?

This was my first fight with Sasuke. I'd never even imagined that I'd be beefing it up with a guy like him. He didn't look very sturdy, like one punch would create a ripple of cracks throughout him that would shatter all of his bones, so I was a little afraid to hit him at first. He wasn't like all of the other guys I fought. So when I was caught off guard, he got the first hit in—a blow right to my stomach.

There was no one around to witness our fight, so it went on undisturbed, no one to stop the two of us from beating the crap out of each other. I got a few good hits in, sometimes missing, but hitting him most of the time. I didn't want to grab him because he still seemed too frail to touch, though he had sustained most of my hits thus far.

He beat me to it, though, and grabbed me around my waist, tossing me to the ground, and positioning himself on top of me so that I was pinned and there was nothing I could do about it. He put my wrists under his knees and pushed his palms down on my chest, knocking the wind out of me when I fell right on my back. I took a moment to attempt to catch my breath, but all was lost when I was interrupted by a short kiss.

Sasuke kissed me there for the first time, in the hallway of the school somewhere with no one around, as the fifth grade graduation ceremony was going on. I could hear them outside calling his name, and with that, he stood up, fixed his clothes, and left to go outside.

I can never tell you enough how damn confused I was. I wasn't exactly sure what to think. I'm not sure if I was capable of thinking at that moment, probably because my brain short-circuited and I couldn't process any of it if I tried.

When I was able to later, I was pummeled with a seemingly endless stream of _Why the hell did Sasuke kiss me? On the lips? Weren't we just fighting? People don't kiss when they fight, right? No way, that's not something people do. And not two boys, either. That's just… Well, no one ever told me it was wrong, and I don't really think it is, but Sasuke is my friend… I think… And friends don't do that… Right? Friends don't kiss each other, not like that, not in fifth grade. What's going on? What the hell am I supposed to think? I mean, he doesn't like me… No, boys don't like boys. Maybe it's okay to kiss, but it's not okay to like other boys like that… You know… Like, like… Definitely not._

I let myself stumble outside, and shortly after his name was called, mine came after, and I accepted my meaningless certificate, with my parents in the front row, looking very upset that I was disheveled for their pictures.


	4. Sixth Grade

I guess you can say that sixth grade was a hell of a new beginning.

Summer had been a huge bummer. The AC went out numerous times, and my dad, being the "I'm-so-good-at-everything-I-do-and-I-really-am-so-you-can't-complain" great guy that he is, fixed it each time. He was always going around and fixing everything perfectly, and I was always jealous. I wasn't good at fixing things that broke and usually left it to him.

So when sixth grade started, I was ecstatic for a new beginning, or whatever you want to call it. It wasn't exactly a new start, but I guess when it was a new school, meaning a new principal and a new staff, yeah, thinks worked out pretty good for a prankster like me.

When I got my first numeral-class schedule, my mind was boggling. I had no idea where the "C" hallway was, or the "700" hallway, or how to differentiate between Cafeteria "A" and Cafeteria "B." Why was the school so huge when it was only a secondary school! I stared at the map in my hands, an obvious sign that I was new to the school, and tried desperately to navigate my way through the labyrinth that they called a public education. I started to wander aimlessly, eventually, hoping that I would randomly and magically come upon my Earth Science class soon, but no such things happened. In the end, I asked a random passerby student to point me out to the "A" hallway. They looked me up and down, as if not believing that I was in an "A" class, but still pointed me in the general direction. I thanked them and was on my way.

I rushed over to the room but it was useless—I was still late by at least fifteen minutes. The sound of the door opening in the empty hallway was like a thunderstorm compared to the dead silence of the room I entered. All heads snapped quickly in my direction and eyes narrowed at my sight—hair messy and papers threatening to jump out of my binder. I didn't really blame them that much, just tried not to glare at them.

The teacher seemed to know who I was right away, called my name, and pointed disinterestedly toward a lab table with one empty chair. The person sitting there already turned their head away from me, letting their black hair create a barrier between us. I set my things down on the table and did my best to straighten them up and turned to the person next to me. They turned their head slowly and eyed me through their bangs, lilac colored eyes shifting. Hinata gave me a small smile, and when I smiled back, hers grew even wider.

The reunion was short-lived, though, because the teacher told us not to get comfortable and gave us our assigned seats. And wouldn't you have it? With my nonexistent luck, I ended up right next to Uchiha Sasuke, who would be my lab partner for the rest of the year.

We were given a partner project right from the get-go that was due the next Monday.

I was about ready to choke and die when he told me that we were going to the library after school _that day_ to start on it.

I met him there on time, though, and separated from him right away to "look for books pertaining to the topic," as he'd put it. I drifted into the music section and started to listen to CDs through the headphones they had there until one was pulled back and snapped against my head. Sasuke reprimanded me for not doing my work, told me he wouldn't take a bad grade for me, and practically dragged me over to the educational section. My eyes probably started to bleed when I saw all of the books they had on science.

Still, I scanned over the titles, looking for anything remotely related to rocks and plates and such, when I came upon a book I thought would be perfect. I reached to grab it, and in the most cliché moment of all cliché moments, Sasuke's hand landed right atop mine as we meant to pick out the same book. I looked over to him, unsure of whether I should relinquish the book and let him get credit for finding it, or keep my hand there and wait for him to move. I chose the latter, but it seemed he didn't want to let go, either.

It seemed we were only closing the space between us with each passing second that the two of us refused to give up the prize. It seemed silly to me that the prize was a book, but still, I wanted to win this. I was determined not to let go… But his face… was so close to mine… Those eyes that were downcast now, locked on something… my lips? I looked down at his, too, and we moved closer…

My hand fell from the book, and he snapped it out of its place. He put the book between our faces, gave me a smirk, and walked away with it.

At least we got an A on that project.


	5. Sophomore

I guess you can say that sophomore year threw me off the track.

I wasn't too into school sports that much, and I didn't participate in them, but when Sakura asked me to go to a Friday night basketball game with her, I just couldn't say no.

Yes, I knew she was going just to watch Sasuke play, but it didn't bother me that much. A date was a date (and I got one hell of a punch when I'd told her that—she just wouldn't accept that she'd asked me out on a date). She told me that she didn't want to be a third wheel when she went with Shika and Ino, and then Kiba and Hinata joined in and she just couldn't say no (and when I told her that would be a fifth wheel, she punched me again in the same spot—needless to say, it bruised like a mother fucker).

So when we pulled up to the school in Sakura's car, I was actually kind of warming up to the decision. Everyone was decked out in the school colors, the bright reds and whites standing out—some people had actually painted their faces. It _was_ the big game to determine the champions, so I suppose it should have been big. Our school was way more supportive of our basketball team than of our football, baseball, and any other sport combined, too, so I knew it was going to be packed. I was instantly glad that Sakura had forced me to buy my ticket ahead of time as we slithered in the pre-sale door, making faces at the people who had to wait in line.

We picked a seat on the very front row of the bleachers, right in the center, so that we could see everything go down. Luckily, it was a spot where there were no player chairs or annoying coach tables, either. We gaped at the away side, shocked by how quickly the bleachers were filling up. I didn't expect that many people from the opposing team to show up, but hell, the championship game was _huge_.

Before the game started, Kiba went and picked up some snacks, then yelled at the security when they wouldn't let him take them inside the gym. Eventually, he bribed him with a few dead presidents (which I tell you, he was _not_ happy about) and was able to take some food inside. We sat waiting for the game to begin, munching on nachos drowning in cheese and drinking tall sodas.

When the opposing team ran out and they called the starting players, our side boo'd them as loud as we could. It was immature, but it was a damn given. They tried to get their side of the gym as riled up as they could, but our booing overpowered their cheers. I thought it was hilarious.

Then our team came out in a burst of loud music from the speakers, running and breaking through a huge sign that read _Konoha Firebirds! _They raised their arms up and everyone on our side roared in cheers and whoops and hollers. People whistled, and some people started up with the chant along with the cheerleaders. I looked over to Hinata and she gave me a small smile. I nudged her lightly and cheered obnoxiously, and eventually got her to whoop loudly. She blushed a little, and Kiba gave her a high-five. They called out the starting players and everyone cheered correspondingly after each name. It died down a little once the game started, but everyone was still rooting for their team. We were easily ten times louder than the other side, making it easier for our team to hear us.

Our team kicked _ass_. The Mizu High Sharks had _nothing_ on us. The score had been close and tied for a long time, but in the last five seconds of play, one of our players scored the winning shot.

"_And Uchiha Sasuke does it! Our best player does it again!"_ came the booming voice from the speakers along with some victory music.

The entire team surrounded him, along with everyone running from the bleachers to join in. I hung back on the bleachers with Hinata and Shikamaru, not entirely sure of what I should be doing. My school spirit wasn't as high as everyone else's (I'd even almost wore a blue shirt on accident—and I would have, if Sakura didn't give me a good scolding for it and made me change out of it), so I wasn't about to run down and bro-hug every player.

I looked down to make sure Sakura and Ino hadn't been crushed by the crowd, and spotted a pink-haired girl and a super long ponytail swishing around and knew they were fine.

Everyone was surrounding Sasuke for the most part, but he was completely still. He looked up in the bleachers and stared right at me. I looked around for a moment, but there was no one behind me. Yep, he was staring directly at me.

He licked his lips and blew a chaste kiss at me, and gave a small smirk.

I could feel my face flush and I was sure I would blend in with the red bleachers with the color I was swiftly turning. I covered my face and darted away from the gym.

I skipped the victory party out of fear that I was going to give in.


	6. Junior

I guess you can say that Junior year gave a new meaning to _fever pitch_.

Even after all the times of complaining that sports weren't my thing, that I totally wasn't a jock, that I didn't have enough time to juggle it, I gave in to Sakura's nagging and joined a sport—to be specific, I joined baseball. I already had a good hand at it, so I was instantly put on the varsity team, which shocked everyone who knew anything about me at all. My parents were thrilled and promised to go to every game—or at least my mom promised, and my dad said he would make every game he could when he wasn't working. It didn't bother me that he couldn't always be there, but sometimes I thought it would be nice to look up in the stands and see him rooting me on. But still, my mom held to her promise and went to every game—except one.

My dad had gotten in a minor car accident that day on his way home from work—one the _one_ day he was going to watch a game of mine—and he was sent to the hospital. He assured me he was absolutely fine, and over the phone he sounded fine, too, but I still wanted my mom to take me with her. She told me not to worry, and to just play my game like nothing happened.

How was I supposed to play knowing my dad was in the hospital? No matter how _fine_ he sounded, there could seriously be something wrong.

No matter, I shook my head to rid myself of any worries, and sat down in the dugout with a smile on my face. I waited throughout the game, waiting for my turn at bat, because the coach told me I would be batting that day for sure.

Still, he continually had to reassure himself that I was okay, because I seemed "off," he said. I told him over and over that I could play, but even with a goofy grin on my face, he still didn't look convinced.

Even then, he let me play, and I got up to bat at the bottom of the ninth inning. There were already two outs, so they told me it was totally up to me here to top off the tied scores. The bases were loaded, so it was definitely my chance. There was a ton of pressure lying on my shoulders, so much that I wasn't sure I'd be able to make it to the home plate. But when I tapped my bat on the ground and got ready to hit the damn ball out of there, I was sure I could. With all of the cheering coming from the stands, I knew I could.

I took a few deep breaths and closed my eyes for a moment, then picked my bat up and looked to the pitcher. He narrowed his black-rimmed eyes at me and clutched the ball tight in his right hand. He adjusted his hat around his head, and ended up taking it off and tossing it somewhere. He ruffled his tufts of red hair, never once taking his intent gaze off of me. He looked pretty intimidating, but I'd played his pitches before. He was known to be the best pitcher in all of our area's high schools, and no one had ever hit his pitches—except me. I was his enemy. He snarled a little bit and I just chuckled. He looked to the catcher behind me, shook his head a few times. Shook his head some more. Couldn't he just agree on something! Finally, he nodded. Straightened up. Got ready to pitch.

"Uzumaki," came a voice from behind me somewhere, someone standing behind the fence calling my name. At first I ignored them, but when they rattled the fence and called, "Uzumaki!" again, I rolled my eyes and turned around.

"What!"

There stood Sasuke, hands latched onto the fence. He pressed his whole body to it and looked directly at me, standing next to home plate. He released one hand from its grip and closed it except for two fingers—which he proceeded to lick slowly, and put right in his mouth—all the damn way.

I swallowed once and found that my throat was drier than Death Valley itself.

His fingers moved in and out of his mouth, but then he stopped abruptly, pulled away from the fence, and strutted away casually as if he hadn't done a single thing.

"Strike two!"

"Fuck!" I turned quickly to face the pitcher, who was grinning evilly at me. Apparently I'd been swinging the bat wildly this whole time and completely missing. The coach yelled at me to get my head in and quit daydreaming.

Luckily—_very luckily _—I hit the very last pitch. The ball soared all the way out of the park and then some. The pitcher let out a few colorful words and threw his glove to the ground as all four of us rounded home plate.

The victory party was held right after at Ino's place (which, by the way, was insanely huge) and everyone congratulated me in turn for how amazing I played, for how close I made it, asking if I did that on purpose for dramatic effect.

My body was suddenly jerked to the side when someone grabbed my hand and yanked me toward a hallway. They shoved me against a door which flew right open, and I fell into a room, stumbling to keep my balance. They followed me in and shut the door behind them, then tackled me into a wall, pressing themselves against me. For a moment, I thought it had been the pitcher from the other team, followed me to make me pay for our victory, but I was proved absolutely wrong when that person pressed their lips against mine, kissing me furiously. They ran their tongue along my bottom lip and forced their tongue in, and soon, I found myself giving in completely.

"You did pretty fucking good today, Uzumaki."


	7. Senior

I guess you can say Senior year kind of tied things up.

All of those years of waiting and anticipating seeing Sasuke at recess or in the hallways, of making him want to be my friend, and in turn receiving something so much more, really, honestly and truthfully, fucked me up. I was always focusing on that much more than anything else I should have been thinking about, like school, studying, other friends, and sometimes my family. I was a little thrown off at times, but it would always pick itself back up and resume normal speed. It kind of helped, though, keeping me on track in some things, but throwing me off somewhere else I hadn't expected.

I did have to admit, though, that Sasuke made my school years a lot better than they would have been without him there. I can't say that he was _there_ for me, but he was, in fact. When I was a hungry little kid, he was there with food, even when I hadn't asked for it. When I had my ass handed to me that one time, he was there to help, even when I hadn't asked for him. When I probably would have otherwise missed that damn pitch, he was an inadvertent motivation to hit the ball out of the field. And… well, I guess you can look at this positively or negatively, but… Where I would have never thought about a guy this way, he kind of made it like that. Where I never would have wanted to kiss someone so bad that it almost hurt, to be near them to bad that I was constantly thinking about them, to be with someone so bad that I couldn't function properly without them… he was there.

Had it been anyone else, I honestly think that I might have cringed away from it. I might have even thought it disgusting. But for some reason, Sasuke made it so much better than it would have been any other way.

Senior year sure was a hell of a kick. It probably topped all of the other years by far. And I'm not even talking about all of the insane things we'd done, like snuck off to the school roof in the middle of class, had sex for the first time—in his older brother's bed of all places, made out in the janitor's closet, and in a closet at one of Sakura's parties, and god, so many other things…

Nope. I'm talking about when he told everyone.

It was one of those horrendous days where I'd forgotten my lunch money and sat starving at the lunch table with nothing to eat. Sakura _still_ wouldn't share any of her lunch with me. She even teased me with her food now. Kiba was busy buying Hinata lunch, saying that it's what boyfriends do, right? Shikamaru practically growled at me when I tried to touch his food, at which point I moved seats because it was something I more expected out of Kiba than from him. Neji told me that if I touched his food, I would lose all feeling in my hands. I wouldn't dare ask Ino for food, because I valued my life.

So, I was left with a rumbling stomach that only a hefty supply of lunch could satisfy.

My eyes widened in delight when a plate of suddenly-delicious-looking school food was set down in front of me. I instantly shoved the pizza in my mouth and took a bite that tore off half of the slice. I munched on it happily, so glad that someone had cared enough to buy me a lunch. I glanced around, but I doubted anyone that I'd asked before had done the kind deed. Sasuke sat down then next to me with a plate of his own food. He gave me a tiny smile and bit into his pizza.

"You bought this?" I asked him. He simply nodded.

When I asked why, he replied with a, "It's what boyfriends do, right?"

It took everyone by surprise, and you can tell they were stunned silent by the way they paused halfway into their lunches. I honestly expected them to either make this entirely huge deal out of it or to shrug it off completely, but it was kind of a mixture of the two.

Hinata gave a small smile and Kiba a huge one, his a mix of entertainment and friendliness. Shikamaru shrugged and just said, "It was bound to happen sometime." Neji's weird self just said, "Good job, you two." Lee gave an insane whoop and holler and high-fived the two of us. I scooted further away from him. Ino was shocked at first, but then she smiled a little, and it grew when she realized that she could find humor in it.

Sakura's reaction was the oddest of all. First, her eyes widened, almost as if in horror, and she looked as if she was on the brim of tears. I was about to attempt to comfort her, or at least hint for Ino to try something, but then she bursted out into hysterical fits of laughter. "You two are perfect for each other!" she said to us. She slapped me on the shoulder and smiled to me. "I always knew you'd get a boyfriend before I did." I gave her my best and worst confused look ever, and she turned to Ino. "Someone owes me a mani-pedi!" she yelled to her. Ino rolled her eyes at her.

I looked over to Sasuke, and he was just casually finishing his lunch. He took his and my finished plates and tossed them both in the trash, a courteous act I would never imagine out of him. He walked back over, but before taking his seat next to me, he leaned over, tilted my face up, and kissed me right on the lips. In front of everyone.

"Get a rooooom!" Kiba shouted, throwing a napkin at me.

Everyone else joined in a chorus of joking complaints, so we stopped and he sat next to me—but not after making a scene of making out with me in front of the whole group. He clasped his hand onto mine under the table and held it close to him, never letting go all throughout the short lunch period.

Somehow, I felt it was kind of… always meant to be that way.


End file.
